Rolla community invited to celebrate ag's role

The Rolla FFA Chapter will celebrate National FFA Week with chapter get-togethers, volunteering and a luncheon for teachers.

But all of Rolla, all of Phelps County, indeed anyone who reads this, is invited to join the FFA members and chapter alumni at a pork loin supper and pie auction to be held Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the Rolla Middle School cafeteria.

"That's the main event," said Hannah Verkamp, assistant sentinel of the Rolla FFA chapter, who has volunteered for the job of publicizing the activities of the special week.

The main event costs just $8 for the supper ($4 for a hot dog meal for young children). Tickets will be sold at the door.

"We've had chili suppers in the past, but the alumni wanted to do something different this year. The alumni will cook the pork loin." Verkamp said. "All of the funds raised go to the FFA scholarships given at the FFA banquet in the spring."

Supper will begin at 5:30 p.m., and the pie auction begins at 7 p.m.

The event is open to anyone who wants to enjoy a delicious meal while supporting young people who might wind up in careers in agriculture, the segment of the economy that feeds us.

After the supper and auction, there will be a Super Farmer competition, a series of contests related to agriculture, for the FFA members. That should be fun to watch.

For answers to questions about the supper and pie auction, call Dana Jenkins at 573-578-9678 or Cindy Strain at 573-368-6233.

The FFA Week will actually last longer than a week because the local chapter has extra activities scheduled.

The ag students will start out by volunteering to help unload the truck at Grace Fellowship Church from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13. That's the truck bringing the food for the monthly food distribution the church conducts as a ministry to folks who need a little bit of help.

The students will be back at the church from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, to help hand out the food and carry it to the cars if needed.

"The food distribution is on the third Saturday of every month. This will be the second or third time we've helped them," Verkamp said.

Sunday, Feb. 17, the chapter will dress up in their official FFA slacks (or skirts), shirts and jackets to attend church together. The church they'll go to has not been selected yet. After worship, they'll have lunch together at Pizza Inn.

Monday is Presidents Day, so there'll be no school and no FFA Week activity.

Tuesday will be the first of four FFA Spirit Days. On Tuesday, they'll all wear their new chapter T-shirts that depict a donkey and the words "We bust ours to feed yours."

On Wednesday, they'll go "blue and gold crazy," wearing the FFA colors in various combinations. Wednesday will be Blue and Gold Hot Dog Day, with students enjoying hot dogs and sodas in their classes.

Thursday, they'll wear official dress, just as they did for the Sunday church services. Thursday will be Popcorn and Movie Night. Students will watch a movie after school from 3:30-5:30 p.m.

On Friday, it will be "Button Up Day," and they'll be dressing in button-up shirts. Also Friday, FFA members will serve lunch to teachers at Rolla Junior High and Rolla High schools. They'll also go bowling from 3:30-5 p.m.

There are 148 FFA members, Verkamp said. They're all students in the vocational agriculture program.

In vocational agriculture and FFA, students learn by doing. Each student has a supervised agriculture project that requires a real investment, meticulous record keeping and a profit/loss statement. It is real-world education.